China confirms human-to-human transmission of deadly coronavirus

The head of a Chinese government expert team has said human-to-human transmission has been confirmed in an outbreak of a new coronavirus.
By The Newsroom
Published 20th Jan 2020, 17:23 GMT
Travellers wear face masks as they walk outside of the Beijing Railway Station in Beijing, Monday. (Photo: PA/Mark Schiefelbein)Travellers wear face masks as they walk outside of the Beijing Railway Station in Beijing, Monday. (Photo: PA/Mark Schiefelbein)
Travellers wear face masks as they walk outside of the Beijing Railway Station in Beijing, Monday. (Photo: PA/Mark Schiefelbein)

Team leader Zhong Nanshan, a respiratory expert, said two people in Guangdong province in southern China caught the disease from family members, state media said.

The National Health Commission task force also found that some medical workers have tested positive for the virus, the English-language China Daily newspaper said.

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Human-to-human transmission could make the virus spread more quickly and widely.

The outbreak is believed to have started from people who picked it up at a fresh food market in the city of Wuhan in central China.

Mr Zhong said the two people in Guangdong had not been to Wuhan but family members had returned from the city, the China Daily said.